Mayor Fenty Suspends Leasing Enforcement For Inauguration

shwing!

Yea, that pretty much solidifies that I’m going to try to rent out my apartment. The money is just too much and justifies the inconvenience. Sorry neighbors! But, my stuff is important to me so I will be screening and will get a large deposit to ensure nothing goes too wrong. I mean, what’s the downside besides irritating some neighbors IF they even found out? A $50 fine? Eviction (in this economy)?? Me thinks none of the above…

My condo associatio has an unlimited fine amount for short term rentals in the official policy and is considering setting a fine close to the amount I could get for my apartment. Can they do that?

Yes — I believe that your condo can raise the fine. My condo said it would shut off fob access for the renters if they showed up. It is likely that they would be treating the concierge like hotel staff so it is likely that most renters will actually be noticed. The fact that Bri doesn’t think its a big deal to irritate her neighbors underscores how important it is to protect our condo assets.

Really?? How can they have a bylaw that states unlimited fines? That sounds illegal to me. Does the bylaw say “fine to be determined by Board hearing” or something? Condo boards are stifling!! Why not just let people live their lives and MYOB

Granted, I see a reason for bylaws as you don’t want complete anarchy in your building and you want to protect property values. But really it seems like most Boards just nit pick owners. People live in single family neighborhoods and most of time everyone is respectful to each other. Now I know I’m going to get flamed for this as people will say “well if you want a single family neighborhood then go live there”. So have at it…

Bri — don’t think you should get flamed for wanting a single-family neighbor hood – however, your basic lack of respect and courtesy for your neighbors that share the common spaces in your building may be why you see condo boards as “stifling”. The reason that you can’t just “live your life” is that your actions impact others. Condo board rules exist to ensure that your life doesn’t encroach too much on your neighbors. Grow up. A condo isn’t a college dorm.

These comments show why I would never buy a condo. They are ruled by petty overlords who are accountable to no one. If I want to deal with an idiotic property master, I would rather call him “landlord” and stick him with the responsibility of paying property taxes and the risk of losing the principal in this lousy real estate market.

Omari – that’s the very reason I sold my condo and went back to renting. I do enjoy living in the city and unfortunately am not ready to go back to living in a single family neighborhood. Right now I enjoy being able to walk everywhere.

Anon – I don’t show any lack of respect at all to my neighbors. I try to keep quiet and don’t think I impose on any of my neighbors at all. I would seek this same type of individual to rent my place. AND I realize that actions have an impact on others… actions in single family neighborhoods have impact on others as well. People all over have parties, decorate strangely, etc and still coexist. I just wish condos weren’t so controlling.

Condos will survive a week long tenant. There’s no way they could undermine the value of the entire property so quickly. I think people can chill out and see the opportunity here to get helped out financially and likewise help out somebody wanting a nice place to stay during a historic occasion. The reasoning that a person would have parties, let people into the building, use the concierge, whatever is bogus. People who own can do the same thing. You think I check ID’s of the people who walk in behind me into the building? I don’t even recognize half the people. That’s why we have locks on the door. Gasp… just like in a regular neighborhood! And if you do feel that way you should ban all tenants because I rent from an owner and sorry to say I don’t have a stake financially in the outcome of the building I live in. That’s not to say that I purposely do anything to mess it up, I’m respectful and want a nice place to live.

Most people aren’t going to notice the weekly renters so it’s not a big deal. Sorry to hear that people are going to be upset over nothing! Really, somebody able to afford a few thousand dollars to rent a place is generally the type of person that would live here already, know what I mean? Same goes for people like me who rent from an owner – I can pay $500k for my own condo, I just don’t want to. I’d rather rent right now personally. But I’m no different in “class” than my neighbors.

What condo boards should be doing is letting people rent out their units and that way they’ll know who’s who. They could approve the tenants and then everyone would be happy. Maybe even make the people renting pay a little fee to hire a security guard or something that could break up parties or make sure the building is safe. And they could even come up with a standard contract for everyone to ensure rules are followed and the building asset is protected. If Fenty is loosening restrictions, Boards should take that as their queue to do the same…. at least just this one time.

Our Board has decided to overlook the inaugural rentals — our only recourse was to fine owners $50 — nothing when compared to a weekly rental income of more than a few thousand dollars. Then again, our building is VERY laid back.

wow… condo boards are messed up if they don’t “let” people rent out their place for a few days…you think someone who is going to pay hundreds of dollars to be here for inauguration is going to mess up the place?? screw it im not asking your permission im doing it anyway

Long before the election, I made plans to be out of town inaugural weekend (now, I’m sorry I’ll miss the events). I’d like to be able to rent out my place without fear of being fined by the condo.

It would be nice if our associations would formally agree to participate in these short-term rentals. Why couldn’t we make an exception for an event like this-as long as we notify the board who is renting our place? This is likely a once-in-a-lifetime event. It’s not like this sort of thing is going to happen on a regular basis.

I don’t think most of us that would consider allowing hoards of partiers into our home. If a potential leasee doesn’t care about their neighbors, they are sure to care about their own home. I’d be happy to work within certain parameters established by the condo assoc…like giving them the names and any other info they need about the renters and agreeing to provide renters with certain information about the use of our community property–like, don’t expect to use our front-desk personnel as their concierge.

A lot of people are going to do this, regardless of the condo rules. It would be nice if our boards would agree to participate in the process and control it in some way.

Oops, sorry, typo…I meant “If a potential LESSOR doesn’t care about their neighbors, they are sure to care about their own home.”

I can assure everyone who attempts to rent out their unit in my building in contravention of the rules (you know, the rules that you agreed to by purchasing in our building or renting from an owner) that as soon as I see one of the inaugural renters in my building, I will have them arrested for trespassing and whatever other laws they may be breaking.

If a weekend renter rapes or kills someone in your building, well, good luck – you’ll be sued. & the condo building will be sued, & if the board was negligent, the condo will have to pay. Insurance policies also might be voided by the presence of temporary renters, so if the building burns down, good luck. Etc.
If you want to live in a transient hotel, well, there are some of those in DC. If you want to live in a respectable building, there will be rules. If you don’t want to follow the rules, then find a place that has no rules.
Many subdivisions have usage rules. Most property in the US is under one kind of a restriction or another. The days where Dan’l Boone could move once he saw a neighbor’s smoke are long gone. Either adapt or go extinct.
My condo building will have vigilant neighbors watching for temporary renters. Anyone trying a temporary rental will be fined the amount of the rental plus $5,000.
Go ahead & try to rent your place – make my day.
We are watching. & we will catch you.

I agree with the people that say that condos (both their boards and their vocal residents) are filled with petty petty petty people. I am renting out my PQ condo. From reading these web log posts, I think I’m in one of the buildings where some of the aforementioned petty people live in. Well, all I can see is that I am obviously screening who is coming in, and I really don’t think you’ll ever notice that they are there. And if you do notice, and they cause NO damage, then I do not think you should be upset. If they cause damage, by all means come to me and ask me to fix the situation. But don’t spend OUR condo fees trying to create a nanny state. I’ve read crazy web log posts about condo boards hiring people to troll craigslist—and I think it is absolutely disgusting if they are using OUR CONDO FEES to finance this type of irresponsible service. WE ARE ADULTS. TREAT US LIKE ADULTS. YOU LIVE IN A CITY NEXT TO PEOPLE THAT AREN’T YOUR EXACT CLONE. IF THE NON-EXACT-CLONE NEIGHBOR ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING THAT HARMS THE COMMON ELEMENTS, ***THEN*** YOU MAY COME AFTER THEM. Otherwise, it really is like pulling someone over because “THEY” are in “YOUR” neighborhood DWB.

Temporary renters wouldn’t be trespassing, even if your condo doesn’t allow them, especially if they have a lease or something.

Those of you thinking about renting — what kind of insurance do you have to cover damage to common areas of the building from your carefully screened renters? Do you have a contract with them that spells out their liability in case of a problem? Have you spelled out exactly how many people can stay in condo? How are you going to verify this? Sure you might check the credit rating of the person who calls you, and you may chat a bit — but that is really all you can do. Even if it is a best case scenario and the folks you rent to ONLY bring the number of people you allow, stuff happens and things get broken. You all say you are going to be carefull and bring in good tenents — but what about the person who just wants to make the quick buck and only cares that the check clears. God forbid that the worse case scenario spelled out by Freddie Mick happens Having rules against short term tenants is a reasonable and responsible precaution tp protect the interests of the owners against a few short sighted people. The extreme reaction of some of the posters here just makes the need for these rules that much more obvious

I just saw a guy trying to break into our condo. What happens to the residents when these “temporary renters” start letting anyone into the building because they don’t know the condo rules or that it is secured access? Also (for Bri) — does your owner know that you are subletting? I’m sure the owner of the unit might have something to say about putting strangers inside her property. As much as you say your are “adults,” true adults would respect their contractual agreements and not put their building and their neighbors in a position where they have to enforce this type of situation. And, by the way, I know some guys who are repeated problems for their condo who are trying to rent out their unit — I feel for their neighbors.

Temporary renters WOULD be trespassing, as their leases would not be valid (depending on the specific rules of the building) and they would not have proper authorization to be in the building.

Asking people to follow the rules by which they are contractually bound is not being petty. Sending inspectors to measure doormat dimensions is petty. Restricting the type of blinds someone may put on their windows is relatively petty. Ensuring the safety of the building’s residents and their collective property and investment by enforcing rules related to running a hotel out of one’s unit is NOT petty.

OK, OK Freddie… could you possibly think of a more worst case scenario??

I’m glad to see there are more reasonable people on here than not. Anonymouse, seriously?? Do you not have anything better to do than police your neighbors?

So if someone rents out their unit and the renters do no harm to anyone or anything in the building, you still advocate using the Board’s and owners’ resources to try and fine the owners? Get a life. If someone breaks something or disrupts your life in some way, fine, do something about it. But if nothing happens, mind your own business. I have lived in my building for 3 years and see almost none of my neighbors. I hope that the first time I meet them is not when they come out of their hibernation to watch everyone who comes in and out of the building. Enjoy the inauguration and try to make an exception for this one event. People are losing their jobs all over the place and in an economy like this, I wouldn’t fault anyone for trying to make a little money by renting to someone responsibly.

BTW,

In my building there are tons of college subletors each summer who are here for 1-3 months.
Are people going to have them arrested 4 trespassing????

SOME PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regarding trespassing, they wouldn’t be. I can get all legal technical, but they aren’t. For simplicity sake, i’ve invited them to the condo and therefore it is not trespassing, valid lease or not.

“Those of you thinking about renting — what kind of insurance do you have to cover damage to common areas of the building from your carefully screened renters?”

None. I don’t see how this is different than now. I don’t have insurance covering this now. I assume the condo association would be covered if I went nuts and damaged the common areas. Certainly they could sue the renters for damages, though I guess.

“Do you have a contract with them that spells out their liability in case of a problem?”

Yes, my contract says they are liable and indemnify me for anything I need to pay. Very simple.

“Have you spelled out exactly how many people can stay in condo? How are you going to verify this?”

Yes I have spelled it out and have their names and information. If there are more people? I don’t know that I care. I don’t see how this is different than when I invite 30 people over for a party or my buddies get drunk and sleep over.

I find all this commotion rather funny. If I was letting a friend use my condo for inauguration or if I was letting my 12 relatives and their 13 kids to stay in my condo, no one would care or blink an eye. But damned be me if I have someone pay to stay in my place.

A big part of life is planning ahead to avoid disasters. Hence, insurance.
Allowing temporary renters into a building is fraught with dangers, & it’s only a matter of time & chance until something disastrous occurs. Trying to protect one’s safety and one’s investment is not foolish – one cannot “get a life” if one’s life has been forfeited to a killer let in by some foolish, selfish, money-grubbing person.
Yes, having four college kids living next door in a one-bedroom apartment is a great idea – that’ll increase your condo’s value. & sure, just turn all the buildings into short term rentals – lots of people want to pay $600 K to live in a building with temps.
Follow the rules. If you don’t like the rules, petition to change the rules, or find a place that has rules you can obey. It’s called democracy, & any time one lives around other people, one has to be ready to adjust one’s whims if those whims clash with the rules established by the whole.

Since when does someone who wants to kill someone need to pay $5000 to do so? As for renters letting people in, I don’t think there is a difference b/w that and the 90% of the residents in my building who do it EVERY day. Are you serious? No one is arguing to relax the rules every week; this is so people can share in a historic inauguration day. Relax, you will be fine, after the week is over you will be in the same position and hopefully some others in your building will be $5k richer.

Everything that the anti-short term lease crowd has said is valid, so valid the city has strict laws against such arrangements written or verbal. The fact that the Districts attorney general, City Hall and DC council (who agree on very little) have all agreed to relax/ suspend the districts sublease / occupancy laws in light of the bigness of the event is telling. We need to get over ourselves, adjust bylaws to allow for reasonable and safe arrangements to be made that protect all interest. First, never argue with a fool because on lookers can’t tell the difference between you. The I could get raped or attacked crowd is simply ridiculous. Living in this great city or small town (Sara Palin’s) America all has its inherent risk, that’s why we are savvy and street smart. Let me get this straight three million people coming to witness history and some of us happen to live with the three idiots who’d rather patrol the halls of their condo. Purchase a co-op in the future folks and allow your big brother antics to run wild. Sometimes things will happen in our lives that necessitate a tweaking of the rules. Yes, this would apply….pull your heads out of your grass and get in front of this issue. Condo boards do what your elected to do (use your brains), put short term rules in place for additional security measures, require would be condo owners/ landlords to off set the cost of any additional measures and provide a list of all owners emergency contact info, condo owners should allow condo associations to hold all security deposits until buildings are assessed post inaugural. Set a reasonable time frame for this policy and shift the cost of such measures to those who are subleasing. Once this is done the citizens’ arrest clowns can fold up their chairs relax and enjoy the festivities or simply get out of town and have the peace of mind in knowing that their assets are being protected by professionals.

Heads up folks my 6’4 240lb Massachusetts State trooper brother and one of his colleagues will be residing in my unit free of charge, They will be here on a security detail, they wont recognize you and you wont recognize them, please don’t get any ideas….

Ah the halcyon days of youth … a time before you realize that life has a million ways to bite you in the butt and you learn that rules like banning short term rentals in condo buildings are a good way to keep the pain to a minimum

I think the liability concerns are valid and people who diagree are being naive. That said, it appears that some people are going to rent their units for the Inauguration regardless of whether the condo rules strictly forbid short-term rentals. Consequently, it seems the prudent approach would be for condo associations to grant an exception for this event and actually regulate it, for example, by requiring a security deposit, the names, addresses, and copies of drivers’ licenses of all short-term tenants, and perhaps proof of no criminal records (as is required by many rental buildings).

In addition, while people have mentioned insurance covering the renters (for the unit owners), I don’t believe anyone has mentioned the possibility that the terms of the condos’ master policies may very well not permit short term rentals, as these may be perceived as posing increased risk of loss. If that is the case, the condo association may not be able to grant an exception, or, at the very least, the building an/or the unit owners would have to obtain additional insurance covering the situation.

Not one person has approached our condo board with a request to sublet. In fact, the only units found to be subletting are owners. Our condo board only has a relationship with the unit owners and those owners were unaware of their renter’s desire to short-term rent. By ignoring the bylaws we would not be acting in the fiduciary interest of our co-owners. And you are correct — the insurance would have to be increased for these occurances. Our board is not wavering and is not allowing these types of rentals. Folks are more than welcome to let their friends stay for free. And folks like Bri who say they don’t care about their neighbors seem to only underscore why we need bylaws.

While I’m still opposed to people ignoring rules regarding the short-term leases, I think guest @ 1:17am outlined a reasonable compromise. Perhaps as an addition to that, I would suggest that the security fobs of those units being leased be turned off for the duration of the rental, requiring renters to stop at the security desk (in our building anyway) and sign in each time they enter the building. It may be a bit inconvenient for the renter, but I think it’s a reasonable, if not 100% foolproof, security protection.

Haha – The continual hall monitors have their panties in a bunch! This string of comments is quite amusing, especially if the Freddy Mick commenter is real. When he says, “Allowing temporary renters into a building is fraught with dangers, & it’s only a matter of time & chance until something disastrous occurs”, I wonder what a day in his/her shoes are like. I wonder if this guy has a frightening and dramatic life or is just a neurotic control freak. (This guy is probably my neighbor now that I’ve typed this.)

I am renting out my condo for the inauguration. My condo association doesn’t allow for this. As soon as the election was over, the HOA posted signs in the elevator reiterating the rules.

In fact, my neighbors hate me and will probably be best friends forever with the renters who are coming in January.

LOL, my condo sent out an email last night saying that renting is punishable according to the bylaws, and what do you know? More people listed their condos today!

That original email probably shouldn’t have said that people were asking exorbitant sums.

I’ll be in Mexico during the inaugural, so I got permission from my landlady to let my parents and brother stay in the condo. She was cool with it, I was cool with it.

She went to the condo board meeting a few weeks back and mentioned that we had made this deal and some self-important jerk threatens to throw her out of her condo if she tries it. They’re not paying money to stay in my place, they’re respectable people, and they’ll be here for 5 days. But according to some power hungry condo board member, they’re a disruption and “rule breakers”.

Nobody likes a hall monitor.

Come on folks — we all know that condo boards are not regulating the guests — only the short-term rentals as laid out in their policies. PQ Girl — you are just trying to bait folks. And Steve at 701 Penn — read the City Paper and you will find out that folks are simply not getting the huge sums that they are asking. I doubt your condo is rampant with greedy folks trying to cash in. Given the rude remarks flying on this thread, it seems there are many folks that are simply not cut out for multi-family living. I hope all of you consider your next housing option carefully since you clearly dislike and disrespect your neighbors so much.

I don’t dislike or disrespect my neighbors. I simply think it is unfair that one member of a condo board now has my landlady so afraid of being fined for what he considers a violation of the visitors and guests policy that my family will now need to pay an exorbitant sum for a hotel instead of just staying in my empty condo.

And I’m not sure who you are accusing me of baiting since you are the only one who commented after me.

PQGirl, all in all, you’re probably fine letting your family stay for free. Just search through your bylaws and rental agreement. There are usually only limitations on subleases, and you will not be doing any sort of a sublease.

If you can’t find any violations regarding your intended action, that self-important man will have no ability to remove your landlord from the building. Even so, that sort of matter would probably require a vote in which 1 heartless vote is not enough to have any sort of effect.

But then you could get into the whole fun politics of HOA’s where (generally old and/or stay-at-home) people with no lives lobby for things to make themselves feel like their lives have meaning.

BOD say they are protecting our interests and often they are. But maybe less focus should be put on this one weekend and more on really managing the buildings to balance condo fee increases with needed maintenance to keep prop values from declining. I see much to focus on, for example PQ bldgs have no plantings in tree wells, let trees die, dont sufficiently oversee cleaning staff (spots on carpet for weeks–and I often see cleaning person vacuuming but missing over half the carpet. Result higher condo fees 4-6 years from now b/c of unnecessary carpet wear). I could go on. They do good things but sometimes are not watching bldg mgrs so workout machines go unrepaired and AC is cranked on high even on colder days.

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This is a simple issue: if you decide to live in a building with other people, & the building is governed by a set of rules, you should follow the rules. If you do not want to follow the rules, then don’t live in a building with rules.
If it were not this particular matter – violating your contract by renting your condo on a short-term basis – it would be another matter – say, cooking meth in your condo. It’s a stupid rule, not allowing me to cook meth in my condo, & I can make $5000 cooking meth, so I’m not going to follow it, & I’m going to cook up a batch meth right now. Etc. etc.
As for people paying $5000 not being criminals, that proves your point, eh? Well-to-do people never commit crimes? Go to the Crime & Punishment Museum, as I did yesterday with my family visiting from out-of-town, & study Ted Bundy.
Also, once you rent your condo to someone, what’s going to stop that person from having a pre-parade or post-parade party, & inviting 50 or 100 people, & maybe some of those people won’t be well-to-do like Ted Bundy & might be criminals.
As a member of a community like a condo building, you need to follow the community’s standards. If you refuse to do so, you really should reconsider your decision to live in a condo building.

Rules of coops and condos shouldn’t be a la carte. While I personally have no problem with people renting out their units during the inauguration, the standing rules should apply regardless of what I think or what someone else thinks.

So, renting your condo on a short term basis is now on par with running a meth lab??? Okay, maybe everyone else understands that logic, but I certainly find it laughable.

Next, any argument referencing parties or crime is moot. Who is to say I will not throw a party with 100 people on Inauguration day? Who is to say that I am not a serial killer either? If I recall correctly, there was never a background check on me when I moved in. I don’t recall taking a polygraph either. So, can someone clarify why an owner or yearly renter in a PQ condo is inherently trustworth and someone who wants to rent for a week is an incredible risk?

On that note, I am off to get my next batch of meth going and plan my evening killing spree.

For the logic impaired, breaking condo rules is the issue. If each of us decides which rules to follow [a la carte, as someone wisely observed], one person will never recycle, another will feed the pigeons [& rats], another will block the outside door open to make moving easier, another will put some incredibly dangerous mobile “fireplace” in his condo [remember that little discussion last year?], another will open a heroin shooting gallery, another a house of ill repute, etc. etc.
If the condo boards do not enforce the prohibition against short term rentals, the insurance policies will be void. If you want to have your condo burn down & get no insurance payment & still have to pay your $400,000 mortgage, go for it.
Most of the people who want the short term rentals OKed appear to be renters. Renters have less interest in the value of the property, which is logical, but people who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars have the right to ensure that the rules enacted to protect their investment are followed.
If you want to live in a transient hotel, there are rooms available. If you want to live in a society with no rules, good luck.

Can we just disable the ability to post comments in this thread already? Everyone’s spoken their mind, and everyone is firm on their stance. It’s getting to be almost as bad as a debate about religion.